Swamp creator opens Snakes Alive! at the Gardens

Swamp creator, Gary Clark, will open the Snakes Alive! exhibition at the Australian National Botanic Gardens today, Monday 15 January, at 11.00am. He will also present a book signing session at The Botanical Bookshop at 2.00pm.

Snakes Alive! runs from Monday 15 January to Sunday 21 January, and Gary Clark’s Swamp strips for The Canberra Times on those days all feature the Gardens’ most prominent resident reptiles - water dragons. He has also drawn a water dragon badge image and designed a colouring sheet for children.

Snakes Alive! is jointly presented by the Australian National Botanic Gardens and the ACT Herpetological Association, and has been an extremely popular summer event since its inception in 2002. Each year it features a huge array of live snakes, lizards, turtles, and frogs , along with feeding demonstrations and public talks.

The emphasis this year is on the impacts of climate change on the reptiles of the Murray Darling Basin region. The display includes the locally endangered Corroboree Frog, Striped Legless Lizard and Grassland Earless Dragon. Also of interest is the Death Adder, and a huge variety of Australian pythons, some of which people will be able to experience first hand. In all, there are over 100 reptiles, representing 40 different species.